Israeli Intel May Prove Syria Used Chemical Weapons

8/28/2013 9:33AM

WSJ national security correspondent Adam Entous has exclusive details of Israeli intelligence indicating movement of Syrian chemical weapons to the site of an alleged chemical attack outside of Damascus, Syria.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... a ... high degree of confidence ... based on our assessments ... if the Syrian regime has maintained full control ... of its chemical weapons ... throughout this conflict ... any last outs in the Obama administration has now been erased about whether the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its own people that's due to new intelligence the Journal reports exclusively in today's paper ... meanwhile the UK plans to request the UN Security Council for a resolution authorizing quote all necessary measures and quote ... to protect Syrian civilians Adam and says joins us from Washington now added the morning ... morning first the thorny get this outta the way in the the Security Council Revel resolution the Russians are done in the air what's the point ... I think the point here is they check that box and that the administration either breaks here pushing to do this ... idyllic this run for a few days probably not probably not for very long and and that give Russia a chance ... at to state its position more publicly ... and then I think if it goes to the Silliman its veto then I think you'll see the administration ... pre shortly thereafter move forward ... with its that with these options that they're right now talking about with the story of limited limited strikes okay Adam and I's at let's get to that in a second before we do let's talk that the evidence ... we now have that for a bit has erase doubts inside the ministry should tell statistically what what you're reporting exclusively ... right so that there was a dramatic change of tone within the administration over forty eight hour period ... starting basically Friday nights ... and then by Sunday morning the administration was convinced that open you officials tell us without a doubt it for themselves that is ... that said the evidence was iron clad that the site's regime had done this ... summer the Syntellia's was brought in eight states by allies including Israel one particularly interesting piece of intelligence that the Israelis provided which directly from VIX Syrian unit which controls chemical weapons in reports directly to a side ... and that intelligence from the Israelis which the C I a later verified ... was basically able to tell the Americans that the unit had moved a certain type of chemical weapon in rockets ... to the areas which only it were attacked ... Adam and I can make this Avon's public ... I'm not sure the extent to which ... add ... to the idea that is that I just the mention the intelligence I just mentioned will be made public because there ... they're worried about exposing sources and methods ... which would potentially make it harder for the United States and Israel to get this intelligence in the future but they are expected as early as today ... to provide at least some deed some deatails some unclassified he knows where expected they were expecting to be a maybe a little bit more of the ... events of the things that we've heard the last few days because ... added to the extent we've heard this before ... there's evidence of weapons of mass destruction ... etc ... having been used or ... and what we've been burned before ... in other words though I is very concerned that ... among the ministrations it to make sure that this case is ... the only ironclad but but but before ... the public in a way that did ... and sold out ... write what they get to look at the context of this administration which ... really has tried to present itself as the the the alternative ... to lead to the Bush administration and particularly ... its use of intelligence I've that turned out to be faulty ... about WMD in Iraq ... so that's very much on the minds of this administration no question about it ... um we don't know the full extent of the information they have ... we know that they had satellites overhead there were closely monitoring ... the sites ... we know that they had been collecting through a network of ... informants on the ground tissue samples to do tests ... um we don't know the full case here we don't know that they haven't given it to miss yet ... I'm not sure to what extent the our been given to us although ... they they are promising to provide us with a lot more detail than in the coming hours and days ok meanwhile I get a two part question free Adam ... Aleppo ... is believed to be the next ... target were reporting for example Cameron weapons attack and secondly ... as you answer that I wanna know what ... why are the Syrians what's what's going on here they know that this is the red line ... David and Western governments to be bending over backward not to intervene ... so why are they giving an excuse to do so ... well that that that is it into the second question I mean the ... bikini that he needs it I think day and has a lot of that there's a lot of mystery about what's going on in in the site's head and why he chose to do this ... but yesterday the Syrians said I laid out for the first time publicly ... an argument that they they believe that ... of Western that trains ... the rebels were on the March to this very area that they struck ... this EIA of has been working very closely with the Saudis and the base in Jordan ... to train rebels to ... do what the Saudis call a southern strategy which is focused on these very suburbs of Damascus that ... aside the target ... of ... another factor here could be that ... as I ... didn't think the US was serious about enforcing this red line ... after all in June ... the U S intelligence community concluded ... that chemical weapons had been used on a small scale ... and Obama didn't take military action ... so you know it it we don't really we don't have a clear picture yet of lettuce I was thinking ... as to what would be his reason for using chemical weapons in this case ... but it's something that that ... you know we're still trying to push on target again I think the Americans are also trying to figure that out ... as for up as for Aleppo ... um ... what you have here it's very similar to what we heard in Libya before the intervention there when ... you know the US cited concerns that Gadhafi was going to go into then got C ... I which was the rebel stronghold in Libya ... now we have administration officials making a similar case ... about how Aleppo could be targeted next next ... up the argument within the administration is is that if they don't send a message now ... then decides to feel like he has a green light to do with everyone's with chemical weapons okay Adam insists from Washington thank so much for joining us this morning ... thank you